Filtration Facts

Industrial Water Filters Used For Water Reclaim and Re-Use

The United Nations estimates that by 2025 over half the world's population will live in water-stressed or water scarce countries. In February, 2009 the Wall Street Journal reported that water managers in 36 U.S. states anticipate water shortages by 2013. At the same time the water depleted Sun Belt and Western U.S. looks for ways to cope with dwindling water supplies. How desperate are they to find a solution? In 2008 Georgia lawmakers tried, unsuccessfully, to move the state's border north so that Georgia could claim part of the Tennessee River!

At the corporate level, implementing water reuse/recycling strategies may be the more practical answer as companies grapple with their "water footprint." As with other forms of sustainability, the possibilities for reclaim are huge. For example, Pepsi claims to have saved 6 billion gallons of water between 2006 and 2007 due to smarter water use and equipment in their operations. On the extreme side, Global Water Intelligence recently reported the lofty goal of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) in which no liquid waste leaves the boundary of a facility.

Regardless of size, nearly every industrial manufacturing plant -- from petroleum to lima beans -- has some opportunity to water reclaim. The driving forces behind these efforts are the same:

1. Increasing worldwide water scarcity.
2. Increasing pressure to become more environmentally responsible.
3. Increasing water and sewage costs. In the United States, municipal water rates have increased an average of 27% in the past 5 years alone.

Regardless of industry, customized water treatment and/or filtration systems must be in place for companies to even begin to realize their water reclaim goals. Sometimes the solutions are simpler (and more beneficial) than a manufacturer anticipates. A case-in-point is Gerawan Foods, Inc. of Sanger, California.

Garawan Foods processes up to 12 million pounds of lima beans a year. Washing these beans takes a LARGE amount of water, and had been producing a lot of sewage - pushing the limit on the towns' guidelines for volume and silt content. Even worse was the fact the pre-washing stage was forcing visible silt under the bean's skin, causing significant amounts of beans to be rejected for quality reasons.

A simple solution using three LAKOS centrifugal separators allowed Garawan foods to completely recycle the bean washing water, resulting in a dramatic reduction in sewage and operating costs. Furthermore, the company cut several hours of manpower a day during the wash season and totally eliminated quality control rejection due to silt in the beans. For Garawan Foods, an effective water reuse strategy supported by an equally effective filtration system was quite literally worth beans!

Want to learn more? Read the entire Case Study of the Garawan Foods filtration system.

Photo by: druclimb